Remembering to Breathe
by Hitori no Hikari
Summary: When his father landed a spot in the hospital, he was sent to deliver lunch for him. With nothing to do, he came across an empty room, one that hasn’t been used since who knows when. But to Ryoma's surprise, the room is still being used...sorta AU
1. Prologue

**EDIT: Yes, I'm editing. I'm just informing you all that it just so happened that my fic has resemblance to lil'mi1's fic "Never Ever". I promise that I never meant to copy any of lil'mi1's ideas. I've received an email to her and I'm waiting to see if I'll receive her permission. Of course she will be given credit. Some of this content was lil'mi1's idea, not mine, and although I did come up with it on my own, I obviously wasn't fast enough. Now I feel like I wasted that 2 and a half mouths that I used to make this plot. But anyway, sorry again. **

**The rest of this fic, probably after chapter 1, possibly part of chapter 2, will have some resemblance as well, but after that, it won't resemble any. I can guarantee that. Now I hope this is settled. **

It's been a while since I wrote a fic….geez; I almost forgot how to write one. ;

This one's angst and tragedy! . There's also horror that will come in a little later. At least I think it will. It's also a bit mystery. I'm so weird. I'm not that much of an angsty person yet it's the easiest thing for me to write. So strange….

There is shonen-ai in here, no a definite pairing but…yeah you know what I mean. You wanna know who the shonen-ai stuff is going on between? . I'm soooo evil….It's between…Like hell I'm gonna tell ya! laughs insanely so screw me, if I told ya that would probably ruin your interest. And it's only some innocent shonen-ai fluff. They're actually only good friends. Close really REALLY good friends. You get my point.

Anywho! **I don't own TeniPuri or the guys. Or anything else for that matter. **

Summary: When his father landed a spot in the hospital, he was sent to deliver lunch for him. Somehow, he came across an empty room, one that hasn't been used since who knows when. But to Echizen's surprise, the room is still in use...somehow. Eyes of sorrow…eyes of hate…shrouded with mystery after mystery…hints of shonen-ai, sorta AU, no pairings.

Rating: PG-13 (it's pretty much PG in this part. But I did mention some stuff here that will show again more…um…bloody-ish later on. And there will be some cursing!

I'll get the fic going now. Hope ya enjoy, this is only the prologue.

* * *

Remembering to Breathe

* * *

Prologue

* * *

……_What happened……?_ A slit of gold peered out, only to be blinded by the light. The boy tries hard to take in the surroundings, but only made out blurred silhouettes and muffled words. Some were emphasized, like…empty, dangerous, haunted, and…

_…Ghost…? _Where was he? Having finally adjusted his eyes, he opened this slowly only to see the face of him mother. "Okaa-san?...Doko—" Before he could finish, his mother swept in and pulled him into a tight hug, careful not to choke him. The boy was surprised by this. "Okaa-san…?"

"Oh god, Ryoma! Thank goodness you're okay! Don't ever ever go scaring us like that ever again! You hear me?!" Her face was stained with tears, her voice shook beyond belief. "I just can't bear to lose my baby boy……"

The room fell silent, only to be disturbed by the mothers soft sobbing. His eyes showed as much confusion as his mind held. What could have possibly happened to have him end up in a hospital bed, to have him mother cry in such a manner? A sound brought him back to reality.

"Oi, Echizen." The youth whirled him face to the origin of the voice.

"Momo-sempai…" The violet eyes of the junior never left the youth's face; the pupils were intent on staying there.

"Don't ever let anything like that happen again, ya hear me? His expression softened a bit and a smile broke onto his lips. "You gave us quite a fright there, Echizen. It's good thing I passed by and found ya, otherwise you probably wouldn't have made it." His brows furrowed, his words leaving the youth completely clueless. What was he talking about? What happened to him that he almost died? More confusion shadowed over him, more than he needed.

"Momo-sempai……what are you talking about…? What happened?" His questions surprised his sempai. Momo just looked at his face weirdly, and then said, "You must have lost a lot of blood to not remember anything. That should be my question." His reply put Ryoma in an even more confusing state. _So he doesn't know either……_ His mother finally got off him, retrieving the place beside him father and leaving his hospital gown soaked. Normally he would complain, but this wasn't a normal situation. He really wants to know what happened.

"We're not sure what happened ourselves. We found you on the 7th floor unconscious in the numberless room at the end of the hall. We were quite surprised to find you there in the first place. No one has been in that room since World War II. How did you find your way up there?" The doctor finished and Ryoma thought some more. _7th floor…numberless room…World War II…but wait… _It was starting to all come back to him. _But that room…it had…!_ His friend and family looked at him strangely while he tried to figure out what it was…

"…Wait…that room…there was a number…" His hand rounded against his forehead, trying to calm the headache he'd received from all this thinking. The doctor only looked at him strangely.

"What are you talking about? No rooms on that floor have numbers. Only the first has a sign and it says storage. The one we found you in had no number; you can go now to see if you want." At this comment, he immediately made to movement to get out of bed, but his mother stopped him.

"No! You mustn't get out of bed yet, Ryoma. You need your rest. Worry about that later…" Despite her warning he got out and darted in the direction to the room. They followed him, his mother continuing her pleading. _There was a number…there has to be! It couldn't have been a dream!_ _It couldn't!_

* * *

5th…6th…7th! With the others still behind him, he headed for the last room in the hall. His heart stopped at the site in front of him. There…really wasn't any number…_That's not right! There was! It was here! I saw it!_ The blue haired boy just stayed there staring at the door, while the others finally caught up. His eyes showered with frustration and confusion. What's going on…?

"See…there isn't any number. It's been that way since the war." The doctor put his hand on Ryoma's head and continued, "You better get back to bed. We don't want you to stress yourself from the moment you wake up." He steered Ryoma to the direction to the stairs, but the youth refused and pushed open the door. More confusion crossed him. The room looked untouched…only to see a few prints of shoes that must've been his sempai's. He walked in slowly, completely oblivious of his mother's words.

His father placed a hand onto her shoulder, signaling her to stop. "Let him be. Let's see what happens. He's not going to rest until he finds out. That's him." They watched as he looked warily at the room. _It wasn't all a dream, was it…what ever happened…? _His eyes continued to wander landing them on the stained knife in the corner. His eyes widened, thinking, _that……that dagger! _

The doctor noticed the direction Ryoma was looking in. "That dagger's been there since the war too. People had tried again and again to take it out of this room, but it's as heavy as a boulder. It won't budge. People think that it's because there are ghosts haunting this room." At this, Momoshiro stepped into the room to the knife.

"Really? They haven't been able to move this? It's a knife…no a tank." He bent down and wrapped his hands around the dagger's handle, then lifted it. At least that's what he tried to do. The doctor was true to his word. The dagger wouldn't budge a single bit. "Geez! You weren't kidding!" He let go and looked at his hands. "Mmmnn….I wonder why it wouldn't work."Ryoma looked at his sempai's hands and gasped at the sight he saw. There was fresh blood covering it all over.

"S…sempai…." Momoshiro looked at Ryoma as if he was crazy and asked what was wrong. "Your hand……it's covered in blood…" Now Momo was starting to worry.

"What blood? Are you getting delusional…? There's no blood on my hands." The adults walked in the room at well, and looked at his hands. They saw none as well. This concerned Ryoma, as his hand closed in on the dagger. Amazingly to his and the others' surprised, he had picked it up no problem. When he set it down closer to him, he saw his hands…they were clean. His mother's scream startled him and he looked up at her. Her face was filled with horror as she looked at his hands. To him, it was clean. To her, they were blood stained.

"Ryoma…your hands……" He looked confusingly are her then asked what about them. "They're covered all over!...with…with…blood." The last word came out with a squeak. This puzzled and frightened all of them.

"Well, pick up the knife Echizen, and see what it says on it. I believe there's a name." Ryoma picked the dagger again, and turned it in his hand. It had the name "Kikumaru" engraved in it. _Kikumaru……_the name sounded familiar but it didn't ring a bell. "Kikumaru…I thought so…" Ryoma along with the others were startled at this and asked how he knew it. "Kikumaru is the name of the owner of this dagger. He was a 15 year old child who hid here during the war. No one, if not, little today knows what happened to him. They say he killed himself, but the reason is still unknown." They all looked at him, almost like asking him to continue. "He was also accompanied by a friend of his. I believe his name was… …no…I seem to have forgotten…"

_What was his name…?………ah! That's…! _Ryoma made the sudden move and got up. He rushed to the bed that lied across the room and opened the curtains, causing a layer of dust fly. He pondered of what he should do next, then pulled the pillow and saw what he has searched for. When everyone else saw this they were all mystified. What lied below the pillow was the beautiful silver locket they ever saw. Although it was an old style that showed it was from the war, its condition was like brand new, almost like it came from heaven itself. The boy carefully picked it up and examined it closely. The others closed in as well, looking at it in awe.

"What…What a beautiful necklace……my…it's like new." Ryoma's mom reached in her hand to touch it, but Ryoma didn't consent that. He snatched it away from her as quickly as possible. "Ryoma…!" She stared at him in confusion, wondering why her son was being so greedy. Little did she know that Ryoma had a reason to do that. He remembered, right before she touched it, something that someone said.

_'Don't let others ever touch it. You understand? You're the only one who can or else the brightness will fade.'_

The boy just stood there, staring at the wondrous locket. He opened it to see if anything was inside. In an instant, a little paper note fell out. All watched as Ryoma picked it up. "What does it say, Echizen? Open it and read." He did just as Momoshiro told him to. Reading the note, he realized that this was what they had left him.

* * *

Ya know, this is pretty long for a prologue, in my opinion anyway…… How was it? Was it okay, good, horrible? Did I spill too much; I don't think so……?

I really hope this will catch your attention. I'm not at all good at writing fanfics, but it's fun and really want other people's opinion. And tell me whenever it's too confusing, though, it's technically supposed to be…a little…

Chapter 1 is coming soon! Hopefully I can finish in a couple of days. It'll be longer by a bit, or possibly the same length…who knows. The prologue here is actually what happened….should I say it…whatever…AFTER the whole fic. Next chapter it'll start like…1 week earlier or something.

Oh! And try and guess who Kikumaru's FRIEND is? Think about what I emphasized there. Who would be like…one of the last people on earth…or maybe only Japan who would be his close friend. CLOSE friend. I'd like if you take a guess in the review, which I'd also appreciate as well. I wanna see if people can guess right. And if someone does guess right, I might be more motivated to make this story better. Good luck!

Review, please and thanks!


	2. Azure Eyes

**Alright, I've received some reviews amazingly. Unfortunately, I've seem to come across some problems. I got an email from lil'mi1 about my fic resembling her/his fic "Never Ever" I've also been accused (implied) of plagiarism**

**I meant no offense to her/him and I didn't make this fiction by copying that one. Honestly, I never seen that fan fiction before, until the email came and I looked it up. It really saddens me to have something like this happened. And although this chapter was typed before what I'm typing now, I'm going back to edit some things so that it doesn't resemble as much. But I'm afraid that this chapter still has much resemblance to it. There's really nothing I can do to change it, because if I change one part of the beginning, the rest behind it won't fit together. **

**Although I had yet to receive her permission, due to the fact that the email was just sent back a couple of minutes ago, I will giver her credit. **

**This chapter does have parts that resemble lil'mi1's fic "Never Ever". So if you see anything that resembles anything from that fic, just know that it was lil'mi1's idea first. **

**I'm really sorry about this, everyone. But I assure you that the rest of this will not be the same.**

Chapter 1 is now up. Thanks to all who reviewed! Really appreciate!! (hugs all reviewers) Now let's hear some of my rambling before continuing. Since I'm typing this sort of ahead of time, I don't really know if anyone guessed right who Kikumaru's close friend is. But I can tell you that it's ironic I made this person his friend. Maybe next chapter I'll find out.

My writing still sucks, I know. Please bear with me. I read fanfics everyday to examine and learn how to write better. But of course…none of them I read are TeniPuri…I'm still in a Golden Sun phase!

Back to Kiku-chan's friend! I'm not revealing him yet! I wanna see if you can guess! YA HEAR ME!? GUESS!!! (smiles innocently) Onegai?

**I don't own TeniPuri or the guys. Or anything else for that matter. **

Now I present to you, chapter 1.

* * *

Remembering to Breathe

* * *

Chapter 1: Azure Eyes

* * *

"Baka no otoo-san…" A golden eyed boy clad in red and white made his way down the street. In his hand...a lunch box. "Can't even take care of himself. Why do I have to be the delivery boy?" Ryoma continued to have an annoying face that basically said 'I'm ranting in my head so go away'.

Shortly he stopped in from of the local hospital and headed inside. He just walked straight in, not even bothering signing in or saying hello to the receptionist. He was sure she recognized him from all the other times he had to deliver lunch for his father dearest. So onward he went and took the stairs on the left. _Which floor was it…?…the 5th…no, 6th…_

The hospital was considerably an old one. It's been running since World War II. The place never had elevators. How he wish they did…they didn't have them at the time and people today want to keep it as close to the original as possible. Damn history freaks…..

Ryoma had barely even broken a sweat when he reached the 6th floor. He stopped at room 604 and went it. "Oi, old man! Lunch's here." As he set the bento on the table, his father just looked up from his…ahem…magazine and grinned.

"Yay…room service." Ryoma just stared at him with the blandest look on Earth. His expression said 'shut up' all over. The man snickered and opened the lunch box, curious of what his wonderful wife made for him. The boy just continued to stare with bored eyes and took a seat in the chair next to the bed. "What's wrong with you? Are you really that bored that you just sit there and watch me eat?" Ryoma watched his father talk while taking big bites of his favorite noodles. How is this disgusting old man who looks at porn magazine his father? _How am I his son…?_

"I'm bored beyond god knows what." He just continued to stare at his father eating the noodles like a pig, with some slurping as well. When he finally decided that watching his father was enough, he stood and headed for the door. "I'm going for a walk…"

Nanjiroh didn't bother to look up from his magazine and noodles. "Sure, just don't get lost." The reply he got was the sound of the door closing.

Ryoma just walked slowly, his mind still being haunted by images of his dad eating. _If I continued to watch him, I'd probably lose my appetite for a month. _He kept walking till he reached the stairs and headed down. But something caught his eye before he stepped down. He noticed that there was dust on the staircase up to the next floor. Not that this place was so clean that a speck of dust would scare everyone to death, but it had a terrifying large layer of it that you might think dust bunnies would pop up at any time.

He turned back and started up the stairs instead. Ryoma had a feeling that he shouldn't go up there, but curiosity got the better of him. As they say, 'Curiosity killed the cat.' (A/N: that's soooo old) As he reached the top, he found the sight that met his eyes were just…unbelievable. This whole floor looked at least a decade older than the others. _Maybe they didn't renovate it. _With uncertainty, he continued down the hall. One thing he noticed was that all the rooms had no signs, no numbers…

It was until he reached the end of the hall when he saw a door that did have one. _…615…how come…? _Just standing there, he wondered why this one had a number, while the others didn't. After pondering a while, his hand finally took the knob and twisted it, opening the door. The room inside was just like the hall, even worse. There was dust everywhere. He took a few steps in, being as silent as he could be.

Abruptly, he stopped his foot from taking him any further._ …Breathing……there's someone in this room?!_ Taking another look around the room, more carefully, he spotted a shadow behind the curtains around the bed. Though it's rare from him, he stood there in shock. Why would someone even be in this place? His nervousness made his breathing heavier, heavier than he wanted it to be. The shadow shifted slightly in its sleep, practically scaring the daylights out of the youth. A soft yelp accidentally slipped out of his mouth, causing the shadow to stop in its place. A long silence filled the room, neither willing to say anything.

* * *

The silence kept on until finally, the mystery person asked, "W-who is that?" Ryoma's throat tightened, not knowing whether to respond or to run. The shadow seemed to have lost some tension and went on saying, "Oro…? Are you there?" The youth was still registering the sound of the other. The voice was light, with a childish hint to it. Soon enough, he summoned enough courage to say something, which wasn't much.

"Who…who are you? What are you doing…in a place like this?" Knowing that this person was nothing more than a kid, like him, he became less tense and soon back to himself. As he headed over to the bed, the shadow replied.

"Nyaaa…that should be my question. No one ever comes up here." The reply had a hint of sadness in it. Ryoma just stood there blinking a few times.

"…Sorry, I'll leave if that's what you want." This caught the other's attention. At first Ryoma just walked to the door without any objections, but before he could leave through it, the shadow called out for him.

"Wait…that's not what I want…Ochibi" Ryoma stopped in his track, slightly annoyed. He didn't stop only because the kid called for him to, but who calls him 'Ochibi'? He didn't like it. "Gomen ne…it's just that…because no one comes here, it gets really boring. I haven't talked to many people for a really long time. Only one other actually…but he's not here. Can't you stay, Ochibi?"

Ryoma's brow twitched slightly at that name, but other wise, just took the seat next to bed. He sitting caused a bunch of dust to fly! _How much dust does this place have?! _Now his clothes were dirty……great…

This made the other child laugh. "Ochibi-chan's face looks funny! Is it because of the dust?" He went on talking, giggles coming in every couple words. "I wasn't kidding when I said no one comes up here. It hasn't been cleaned for so long!" He laughed some more, but realized that Ryoma's silent. He felt his stares on him and asked, "Nya…what's wrong, Ochibi-chan? Are you angry at me?"

Ryoma blinked at this and just went out with whatever was on his mind. "Iie…What are you doing here? You really shouldn't be here. We should get you downstairs so that they can help you." Another silence passed. Ryoma was wondering why the shadow hadn't responded.

"Help me with what?" This made Ryoma blink some more. His voice was completely different. It was deeper, lower. It was…more dangerous. "There nothing they can help me with…even if they tried. Besides, I can't leave this room."

"What? Why…why can't you leave?" The youth just stared at him some more with an annoyed look on his face.

"I was told not to. I can't leave unless he says it's ok."

"…unless he says…it's ok…why do you listen to him…whoever he is? He probably just wants to keep you in here for his own needs." This was really turning like one of those movies.

"No! He has a reason! He doesn't…he doesn't want me to be hurt…" Instead to replying, Ryoma stood, eyes directly on the shadow. Then he decided to change the topic once more.

"Ne, what's your name?"

"My name…?" Ryoma nodded. "My name's Kikumaru…Kikumaru Eiji."

"Kikumaru…Echizen Ryoma desu…" Kikumaru seemed to have perked up a bit. He went back to his old self.

"Echizen…Ryoma…That's a cool name, Ochibi." The tennis prodigy twitched some more. Why did he insist on calling him 'Ochibi', when he even gave him his own name? He was starting to get annoyed. All of sudden, Kikumaru tensed. Silence passed for a while, when he finally said, "Ochibi, leave! Now!" This surprised Ryoma. Why was he telling him off? "Leave! You can come some other time, but please leave now!" The golden-eyes boy just backed a few steps, not sure what to do. "Please!!" It was then when he caught a glimpse of Kikumaru. Azure eyes as blue as the sea, that seemed to be tainted with much sorrow. Seeing this, Ryoma immediately left and closed the door behind him.

His heart was beating…fast…What frightened him to have his heart beat so fast? He gave the thought of staying and listen through the door, but instead headed back for the stairs. Though he left, his mind never once stepped out of that room. Nor did he ever leave Kikumaru's eyes. His mind was still drowning in that azure sea full of sorrow.

* * *

Kikumaru sighed as he saw Ryoma leave. He heard soft footsteps that eventually made it to the stairs. _I hope you come back tomorrow, Ochibi…_

"Eiji…? Something wrong?"

Kikumaru looked the other direction, only to see that his friend came back. He shook his head and replied with a smile, "No, only thinking." The other had a face of uncertainty, but believed him. There was a comfortable silence for a while, as they both just look at one another. Kikumaru then asked, "So…why are you back so early today?"

The other just looked at him, expressionless, and then smirked. "I wanted to make sure that you stay out of trouble." At this, Kikumaru gave a cute pout.

"Ahhh….that's mean, ya know. Are you implying that you don't trust me?" After think a while, the other smirked again.

"Yea, that's right, I don't trust you." Kikumaru pouted yet again. A whimper or two fell out as well. "Ya know, keep doing that, and you'd be stealing my signature pout." A smile broke onto Kikumaru's lips.

"That's the point!" Of course, now it was his friend's turn to pout. A laugh escaped Kikumaru's mouth and soon the other joined in. Once they finished, silence took over again. "Ne…how long do you think it will take this time?" A slight frown was pasted on the other's face.

"I'm not really sure. The time span keeps changing every time, so…it's kinda hard to say."

With a sigh, the redhead said, "I hope it won't take long…I don't like being like this anymore." The other youth looked at his friend with sympathy. He always wondered why that boy had to suffer like this. He wanted to do something to cheer him up. Something to make him happy now. Whether he'd be happy in the future, he didn't know. He only cared about his happiness now.

"Hey, Eiji. How about after it's done, we go to America and take a look around." This caught the redhead's attention.

"Honto wa?!"

Nodding, he said, "Yea, sticking around here forever ain't gonna do you or me any good. We should travel and see the world. I've always wondered what America would look like now." Now Kikumaru was practically jumping everywhere. Happy to see him cheer up, he smiled and watched him in his happiness.

_All I want is for you to be happy, Eiji. To pay back for all the things that happened to you. It was my fault in the first place. And though I'm not really the sentimental type, I really miss being able to touch that face of yours…and I really regret not being able to do so when…those …_

_…those…tears were running down your face…_

* * *

Ha! There! I finished! (smiles) Soooo? How do you like it? I really hope it's at least okay. I don't really like disappointing people, and I really hope I'm getting better. EDIT: And I tweaked it some after seeing that someone already had a similar idea. 

Anywho, the mystery friend is in this chapter. Surprise, surprise. I didn't give away his name, another surprise. I still want you people to guess! (smiles more) I gave some hints on his personality. He might be a bit OOC compared to his PoT self, but none the less, the main idea of it is still there. Though one part of his personality is completely changed in this. In TeniPuri, he's not best of friends with Kiku-chan, and here he's his closest friend and probably only friend…at the moment. Ryoma-kun is gonna change that.

This chapter wasn't really any longer than the prologue. (sweatdrops) It's like…a half page longer. Hopefully the next will have a bit more in it, but as they say, quality is better than quantity. All right then, I hoped you liked it. Chapter 2 shouldn't take too long to finish. I'm already like…40 done. Soooo, yea……I seem to have a lot of motivation to write that fast. And the work quality in my opinion is not that bad either. (smiles AGAIN)

Alright then! Till next time!

Review! Please and thanks!

Hitori a.k.a. Suki__


End file.
